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Relaxation

A Capella has blown up so much in recent years, its become almost as popular as Gregorian chants during the Medieval Period. The media has helped push A Capella into popularity through various ways, one being a movie called Pitch Perfect and an A Capella competition titled The Sing Off.

Pitch Perfect is about a young new college student named Beca, who immerses herself in an A Capella group and steers the gang towards success. The Sing Off features various A Capella groups preforming today’s popular music. This competition has celebrity judges that eliminates a group each week. Ultimately, an A Capella group wins a grand prize and becomes famous.

Due to Pitch Perfect and The Sing Off, A Capella has popped up at thousands of universities. Central Washington University didn’t have A Capella until 2011. In 2011, Isaiah Ragland, currently a senior at Central, brought A Capella to Central Washington University through Nada Cantada. Eventually more groups were formed like Boots n’ Cats, Fantastic Forte, and 20/20.

Last year, Emelia Blunt, another senior at Central, started a non-audition A Capella group named Blunt Force Trauma. This group is exciting because students can have all the fun of being in an A Capella group without auditioning. This is really important to me because although I haven’t always had professional training, music has always been a therapeutic getaway for me. This is a great opportunity for others who are in the same situation I’m in as well.

Recently, Central had its Fall A Capella concert called FallapaFOURza. This concert’s line up involves the groups I’ve mentioned earlier. Blunt Force Trauma’s songs include: “Rather Be” by Clean Bandit, “Make it To Me” by Sam Smith, “Your Love” by the Outfield, Ke$ha, and Moko. Here’s is a video of our performance if you would like to watch.

Nowadays, life is so fast pace it’s easy to be like the “Energizer Bunny” and keep going, and going, and going. Peoples days are filled with so many activities to the point where they end up sleep with sore tense bodies, go to bed, then wake up the next day to do it all over again. I am guilty of this and want to talk about the importance of relaxing for our bodies and for our well being. An added bonus is that you live a happier life.

As people may know, there are so many simple ways to relax. So much in fact, there is no reason why someone cant be relaxed while dealing with the hustle and bustle of life.

Everyone uses their hands so often and don’t show them love. As weird as this may sound, it is a great idea to give yourself a hand massage. Hand massages are excellent for people who type a lot because hands tend to hold a great amount of tension. Believe it or not these massages are a good way to calm a pounding heart. When you get a chance to, grab some lotion or oil and start to rub your thumb against the base of your hand. Another way to instantly feel relief is to sprinkle cold water on your wrists and behind your earlobes. The arteries right under the skin allow the whole body to feel cool, calm, and refreshed.

This may sound cliche, but honestly it is really beneficial to stop and smell the roses. “Certain smells change our mood.” Obviously, during a workday you can’t always leave your desk whenever you want just to smells the roses. It’s recommend that you bring a jar in with you, leave it at your work place, and smell whenever need be. My coffee addiction was enabled more when I found out the smell of coffee can help lower stress hormones. Talk about simple, even if you don’t like to drink coffee the smell will comfort you.

Food and drinks are essential to being alive and one of my favorite things to do. So if it can help me relax, that’s an added bonus. It would seem like most people know that green tea boots your metabolism, but did you know that green tea has a chemical called L-Theanine? This chemical helps release anger. So the next time you feel like you want to punch someone or something drink green tea. I like to flavor mine with peaches. Mangoes are not only a tropical tasty snack, they help lower stress levels due to a compound called linalool.